


Cupio Dissolvi

by Zorthania



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Divergent, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28754628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorthania/pseuds/Zorthania
Summary: A moment, just to look.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Kudos: 27





	Cupio Dissolvi

"Hanji wanted to take a picture with me while we were there, can you believe?"

There's a warm laugh that rumbles deep beside Levi as the sea breeze cools the heat that the sun beams onto his skin. A shimmering gold dances on the horizon as the sun starts to dip into the ocean. The world behind them consumed by hues of fading light.

"Why didn't you take one with them?"

Levi catches a glimpse of Erwin over his shoulder and drinks at the sight like a starving man. Despite missing limb he remains the embodiment of stability and vigor. Traces of glowing velvet drape his silhouette in overwhelming softness. The crinkle of his crows feet speak volumes of the fortune afforded to him in the quiet and the calm. Tender, gleaming blue eyes glowing bright like something ethereal at the core of his spirit.

Erwin Smith is a powerful thing that ought to make any living man kneel.

Levi almost does.

"You weren't there."

Erwin chuckles again, and a kindle burns deep inside Levi's hollow stomach. The sound is haunting.

"You weren't there, Erwin." Levi says, delicate this time.

"But I was." Erwin turns to look at him, something featherlight touching his eyes as he tilts his head slightly and smiles.

"I was there when Sasha downed that ice cream faster than she should have. I saw Hanji trying to force feed a machine with a carrot-"

"You didn't taste it though, did you?" Levi interrupts, still refusing to face Erwin fully, letting the last glows of the sun warm his face while he listens to the soft 'shas' of the rising waves as he tries to quell the storm in his heart.

"Levi..."

"You weren't there, Erwin."

Erwin closes the gap between them, reaching to lay a hand on his shoulder before retracting it altogether.

"Levi."

He finally turns to look him in the eyes, he only wishes he hadn't as his knees quake and threaten to crumble beneath him at the sight of startling unearthly blue. 

This time Erwin smiles something bittersweet as the sun highlights rays of speckled gold between lashes and irrepressibly lays his palm over Levi's beating heart, heat seeping through the cloth of his shirt in a way the sun never could

"I saw the world through your eyes, Levi."

It's sheer cruelty for a man with such an unconditional love and curiosity of the world- and suddenly Levi wants nothing but to dissolve and give everything that he is to a man whose eyes would know how to appreciate better what little gifts were granted to those that survived.

The light vanishes from Erwin's eyes as he dissipates into the wind as shards of sand, leaving behind only a promising echo in memoriam.

"I am always with you."

**Author's Note:**

> What transpired in chapter 136 ruined me. It's not that we weren't anticipating a callback to Erwin before Levi's final moments (fingers crossed, give him peace), but to have Erwin Smith's eyes admired 3 times in canonically released material breaks me. He is haunted by him, let the poor man rest.


End file.
